Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

OK TO LONG TO POST BUT HIGH LIGHTS:

.For his part, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Safa net debt to the budget and encouraging large compared Balmwaznat years, as it more than last year's budget b (11) billion dollars. A net for the formation of committees central to the activation of application projects or withdrawal of funds from some ministries in the event of failure in the implementation of projects and transferred to other ministries succeeded in implementing projects assigned Aiha.

And in relation An official source at the Central Bank of Iraq in a deficit budget this year because of pumping dollars into the local market to preserve the stability of the dinar exchange rate.

His appearance Mohamed Saleh, Head of the Department of Statistics and Research in the Central Bank, said that the new budget will exchange allocations to the dollar, pointing out that the rise in the value of the dinar positively impacted by limiting expenditures to alleviate inflationary pressures in the Iraqi economy and reduce costs on prices.

Saleh pointed out that the (95)% of the income of public budget depends on oil revenues, as a basic resource for the country. He pointed out that the future will be encouraging the conditions for lifting the value of the dinar against the dollar, but could not determine the rate of exchange to proceed only after the real budget

الرافدينRafidain
www.alrafidayn.comWww.alrafidayn.com

ALLOCATION IS A HUGE WORD FOR THE FARM HERE SO (LOL);
WEBSTERS COLLEGE DICTIONARY:
1. THE ACT OF ALLOCATION: APPORTIONMENT.
2. THE STATE OF BEING ALLOCTED
3. THE SHARE OR PORTION ALLOCATED. See ASSIGN

WEBSTERS COLLEGIATE THESAURUS (I LIKE THIS BOOK)
ADMEASURE, ALLOW, APPORTION, ASSIGN, GIVE, LOT, METE, RESERVE, SEQUESTER, STOCKPILE
2. DESIGNATE
3. EARMARK

OK SO WHEN THE NEWS STATEMENT CROSS REF TO WEBSTERS BOOKS:

ALLOCATION = RV IN BUDGET

Analysis: Rebuilding Iraq's economy
10/01/2007
Source: World Peace Herald

When then-viceroy Paul Bremer took over the civilian administration of Iraq in 2003, he had an intricate plan to transform the state-owned socialist economy into a beacon of free enterprise in the heart of the Middle East.

Central to his plan was the sale of some 200 state-owned enterprises to the highest bidder to bring in fresh capital, streamline operations and boost profits. That in turn would drive the rest of the economy.

The ambitious "shock therapy" plan failed. Foreign investors could not be lured into the uncertain political and security situation in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis' livelihoods depended on the state-run manufacturing plants.

Not a single state-owned enterprise has been transitioned to private ownership.

All of the 193 state-owned enterprises have sat idle since 2003 with the exception of a single heavy industrial plant not far from Baghdad. More than 500,000 Iraqis, however, are on the payrolls of the idle factories, drawing some $800 million a year off the already strained Iraqi budget, according to a study prepared for the U.S. State Department.

Three years on, a small Pentagon office has conceded the ideological battle for now and is attempting to restart the state-owned enterprises. The idea now is not to remake Iraq's economy, but rather to put the Iraqi people back to work.

Two dozen Defense Department employees, contractors and manufacturing industry executives traveled to Baghdad Saturday to begin the process.

Paul Brinkley, the director of the task force to improve business and stability operations in Iraq, told reporters the goal is to jump start Iraq's stalled economy, re-employ thousands of workers, and hopefully drain the financial lure of insurgent attacks. U.S. officials report that Iraqis are being paid $50 to $300 to set roadside bombs.

Brinkley's office was originally directed to de-bug U.S. contracting rules in Iraq, to remove the red tape that keeps Iraqi forms from winning U.S.-funded reconstruction contracts. The former chief of U.S. military forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, brought Brinkley and his team to one of the idle state-owned factories last year. It was immediately clear the impact restarting industry would have on both the economy and security. The task force was born in May 2006.
Restarting state-owned industries



Brinkley has assessed more than 30 state-owned enterprises and selected the first 10 to be restarted. They are geographically dispersed throughout the country -- most of them in high-threat areas -- and run the gamut from rubber and cement manufacturing to fertilizer, phosphates, automotive and pharmaceuticals. They are in Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi, Mosul, Sinjar and AL Qaim near the Syrian border, Bayji, Najaf and Taji.

Brinkely asked that the specific locations and names of the factories not be published for security reasons. They are likely to be targeted by insurgents or militias, he said.

Despite the violence in many parts of Iraq, Brinkley believes the factories may be being protected.

"We have factories in areas of great unrest that have not been looted," he said. "What we think is chaotic is actually controlled. Someone has made it clear: don't touch that factory."

Brinkley acknowledges the security risk.

"From a security perspective, an Iraqi worker who finds out his job is back ... knows better than anybody what risks he is taking by going back to work. We have an obligation to give him that opportunity back," Brinkley said. "The alternative is to do nothing."

The plan is to make a minimal capital investment, about $5 million, to ramp up the factories beginning this month.

"I don't want U.S. funds spent on this. I want Iraqi's money spent on this," he said.

Some can be restarted almost immediately; others will take three to six months to become workable again.

The next step is to create demand for the factories' products by having the U.S. Defense Department place orders for items it is already buying in the region and importing into Iraq. Cement for roads, blast walls and other reconstruction projects is a likely first order, Brinkely said. The Pentagon is spending $4 billion a year just buying products to use in Iraq. He hopes to funnel about $1 billion of that into the Iraqi economy through direct orders with the state-owned enterprises in 2007.

By the end of 2007, if all 10 enterprises are running again, some 11,000 Iraqis will be put back to work.

"When an Iraq doesn't have a job there is an exponential impact on their livelihood," Brinkely explained.

The typical American worker supports four people. In Iraq, a worker usually supports 13 people, he said.

Brinkley is also asking U.S. firms to place orders with Iraqi enterprises so to connect Iraq into the global supply chain. Already Caterpiller and Dow Chemicals have expressed interested.

"I've been almost humbled by the reaction," he said.

He also hopes there will be a cascading effect of jobs created around the state-owned enterprises - small machine shops, supplies stores, restaurants and services for the thousands of newly employed.

Brinkley has a permanent team of 35 that rotates in an out of Baghdad every two weeks, with more than 20 scheduled to join soon.
http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2914


Boost that economy and help the people!

Basrah, Kirkuk and Mosul are candidates for the leadership of private banks
10/01/2007
Source: Translated by IRAQdirectory.com

The private banking sector in Iraq is still marking time within a modest financial work despite the fact that it had started in 1991.

These banks had their real start after the collapse of the former regime in Iraq; there were several high hopes during the era that came after that event, but those hopes quickly evaporated with the emergence of a significant number of new banks with new titles like the agricultural, industrial or service.

The main reason of the recession that struck the private banks is the general security situation, where a number of them were exposed to raid, theft or threats, and thus forced to close their doors in heated areas, or move to other areas of the provinces.

The second reason, according to Adnan Hajim who was a banker in Arrafidain governmental Bank for thirty years, is the mechanisms adopted by these banks, which are still simple and lack experience as well.

He adds: "this is due primarily to the lack of experienced human cadres and the withdrawal of staff working there, preferring to return to government banks, where salaries and bonuses started to improve in unseen way in the Iraqi banking system".

The banker Baskal Emanuel says: The problem of private banks now is the worry of extensive banking work because of the security situation first, and the unclear economic infrastructure of the country.

Pascal Emmanuel believes that the money saved within the homes of Iraqis could be the largest capital for the Iraqi private banks. She also believes that the promises and hopes that attract Iraqi money in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, for example, in one way or another led to the escape of Iraqi capital to those three Arab countries where most Iraqis adopted the method of deposits which have high benefits and only little funds were used in direct investment.

Arkan Ahmed Nasser, an employee at Rasheed Bank resigned in 1990 due to the low salary then started his own banking office, believes that private banks can fully succeed in case they became Iraqi branches for Arab and foreign banks, when those desire to work in Iraq and this will not happen if they don't sense some change in the security status and the economic orientations of the country.

A study prepared by the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation reported the possibility of developing the banking work in Iraq, and that Baghdad will not be the only city which will attract this banking orientation, but also cities such as Basrah, Mosul and Kirkuk where a suitable economic environment for the banking work exists.

The study also indicates that the port in south of Basrah could be at top of the important locations for establishing commercial and service banks.

The study also sets a timetable for the establishment of a good private banking business in Iraq with 2008 if the political and security situations change for the better and the phenomenon of violence and social disintegration end.

It is known that the private banking system in Iraq goes back to the 1950s of the last century, when some private banks were founded in Iraq as branches of American, British and regional banks, but those banks closed down after the events of the 14th of July, 1958, and all hopes were closed too in the establishment of private banks in Iraqi especially that economy became absolutely central and run by the government.

During the past three years, banks were established benefiting from the mechanism adopted by the Iraqi Central Bank as well as from the banking activities of the exchange offices and the opening up of Iraqi markets to foreign goods. These banks still operate secretly because of the harsh conditions of security in Iraq.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2915

An American grant to fund 12 projects in Basrah
10/01/2007
Source: Translated by IRAQdirectory.com

An Iraqi local company in cooperation with the University of Basrah is implementing a floating bridge linking the two banks of Shatt al-Arab, to end the long suffering of the inhabitants of Attanuma which is located on the Iranian border, with the province.

The representative of the local construction unit, engineer Salim Abboud, announced that the cost of the project "exceeds 1.766 billion Iraqi dinar", expecting its completion in the current year.

Engineer Ali Aziz said that the project is a "model for the study of the problems resulting from the erosion of iron structures, adopted in the projects of the development plan, and which is being tested in brine humid climates", pointing out that such climates are the main reasons "behind the erosion of iron structures and floating bridges, especially in Basrah".

It should be noted that Khalid Bridge on Shatt al-Arab, built since the early 1980s and which links Iran to Iraq within the international transportation network, was subjected to shelling by the Iranian army during the Iraq-Iran war (1980 - 1988), and this greatly affected the movement of communications with the Iraqi eastern borders.

A source in the Development and Reconstruction Committee in Basrah announced that, the Committee suggested setting up "12 projects for the reconstruction of Basrah within the grant from the American Congress, valued at $ 34.6 million will be allocated for infrastructure projects for 2007".

Members in the City Council expressed their displeasure with the frequent break off of relations with the British side, which has always hindered the exploitation of the amounts granted by the donor countries. One of the members noted that many projects were "supposed to be implemented in the current year, but they were not due to the break off ".

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2917

Originally Posted by MrsCK

OK TO LONG TO POST BUT HIGH LIGHTS:

.For his part, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Safa net debt to the budget and encouraging large compared Balmwaznat years, as it more than last year's budget b (11) billion dollars. A net for the formation of committees central to the activation of application projects or withdrawal of funds from some ministries in the event of failure in the implementation of projects and transferred to other ministries succeeded in implementing projects assigned Aiha.

And in relation An official source at the Central Bank of Iraq in a deficit budget this year because of pumping dollars into the local market to preserve the stability of the dinar exchange rate.

His appearance Mohamed Saleh, Head of the Department of Statistics and Research in the Central Bank, said that the new budget will exchange allocations to the dollar, pointing out that the rise in the value of the dinar positively impacted by limiting expenditures to alleviate inflationary pressures in the Iraqi economy and reduce costs on prices.

Saleh pointed out that the (95)% of the income of public budget depends on oil revenues, as a basic resource for the country. He pointed out that the future will be encouraging the conditions for lifting the value of the dinar against the dollar, but could not determine the rate of exchange to proceed only after the real budget

الرافدينRafidain
www.alrafidayn.comWww.alrafidayn.com

ALLOCATION IS A HUGE WORD FOR THE FARM HERE SO (LOL);
WEBSTERS COLLEGE DICTIONARY:
1. THE ACT OF ALLOCATION: APPORTIONMENT.
2. THE STATE OF BEING ALLOCTED
3. THE SHARE OR PORTION ALLOCATED. See ASSIGN

WEBSTERS COLLEGIATE THESAURUS (I LIKE THIS BOOK)
ADMEASURE, ALLOW, APPORTION, ASSIGN, GIVE, LOT, METE, RESERVE, SEQUESTER, STOCKPILE
2. DESIGNATE
3. EARMARK

OK SO WHEN THE NEWS STATEMENT CROSS REF TO WEBSTERS BOOKS:

ALLOCATION = RV IN BUDGET

Agreed MrsCK, as we also read the other article!

The 1:1 is in the budget, but when will it pop out?

Anyway 2007 must be a wealthy year for all of us!

Just saw this on Nininews, only headline.


"10 Jan 2007 21:57:46
Phone call 31
Bush, Talabani discuss new US strategy"

NINA & National Iraq News Agency


Counting down the hours for the most important speech of Bush out his career.

It's not only for Iraq all or nothing but also for Bush!

Democrats Urge President to Offer Real Change for Iraq
ReutersJan 10 2007 17:54


WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following statement wasreleased today by the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for changein Iraq:More than two months after the American people delivered an historic callfor dramatic change and an end to the war in Iraq, President Bush is set todeliver a speech tonight which reports suggest will reject that call and propose escalating the war.

Democratic Conference Vice Chairman CharlesSchumer, Conference Secretary Patty Murray, and Senator Jack Reed joinedFormer NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark and Iraq war veteran John Soltz today to urge the President to heed the will of the American people, listen to the advice of his top military leaders, and institute real change in Iraq.

Four years into what has become a civil war in Iraq, the generals and thenation agree: the time has come to transition our military mission,responsibly redeploy our troops, and end our open-ended commitment in Iraq.Democrats, Republicans, and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group have all offeredPresident Bush a roadmap to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis and change the courseof the war.

Escalating the war, by contrast, is opposed by the military andthe American people, and would only delay the day when the Iraqi governmentwould reach the political settlement necessary to ensure their own future. Theleaders today urged the President not to reject the advice of experts and thewill of his nation, and called on him to announce a new plan to bring the warin Iraq to a close.

"The President may be putting the cart before the horse," said SenatorSchumer. "To increase the number of troops without coming up with a workablestrategy in Iraq doesn't make much sense. If we simply continue to police acivil war, even with 20,000 more troops, soon after they leave the Sunnis andShiites will continue fighting with each other we won't have accomplished anything.

And without a change in strategy, no amount of troops is going tomake Iraq right."

"The American people sent the President a loud message in November,tonight we'll see if he listened.

Our troops, their families and allAmericans deserve a plan for a new direction in Iraq. The days ofCongressional blank checks for a failed policy are over. Our country and ourtroops deserve better," Senator Murray said. "Like most Rhode Islanders and many military leaders, I think thePresident's plan is going to be too little, and too late. If 20,000 troops isthe proposal, it will probably be inadequate, just as this fall's increase introop levels in Baghdad was unsuccessful," said Senator Reed.

"The Presidentand others can try to paint this as a dramatic and aggressive move, but thekey factor in Iraq remains reaching a political resolution among sectarianfactions.

The President has to get the Iraqis to step up.

And if they aregoing to step up, then the size of our force is less important than thecommitment of the Iraqi government to fundamental changes in their approach tosharing power and resources as well as addressing the militias." Said General Clark, "After three and a half years of failed predictionsand dashed expectations about our military's performance in Iraq, PresidentBush owes the American people a detailed justification as to why a marginalincrease in troops and more promises from Iraqi politicians will make anydifference in the outcome in Iraq."

"Escalation in Iraq will not kill Osama bin Laden, won't secure Iraq long-term, and will not make us safer here at home," said Soltz, a veteran ofOperation Iraqi Freedom. "The only thing it is guaranteed to do is bring aboutan increase in American deaths for no reason. As a veteran of this war, Icannot overstate how much this escalation will betray our men and women inuniform by sending them on a mission to secure Iraq that can't be achievedwith force alone."

Democrats, Republicans, and the majority of the American people have all made clear they want a new direction in Iraq that begins to bring the war to a close.

Four years into what has become a civil war in Iraq, the time has comefor a real change.

IRAQ | Log In

ISX declines
Baghdad (NINA) – On its second session for the New Year, the index of Iraqi stock exchange closed on 24,918 point, with a decline at the rate of 1,064 percent lower than Monday’s session. Twenty-four out of ninety registered firms traded their shares on Wednesday Jan. 10.

I THOUGHT WARKA SAID NO TRADING FOR MONDAY AND TRADING WOULD START ON WEDNESDAY?

WHAT IS GOING ON - HELP PLEASE

Bush to seek $6.8 bln for new Iraq strategy
Reuters
Jan 10 2007 17:0

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's plan for Iraq includes a $6.8 billion budget request to pay for a 20,000 troop increase as well as jobs and reconstruction programs aimed at stabilizing the country, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

Facing growing U.S. frustration with the war, Bush will lay out his strategy in a speech at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT on Thursday).

The $6.8 billion will be added to a broader war-spending bill Bush will unveil in February for fiscal 2007, according to two U.S. official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

The total price tag for the emergency legislation was already expected to reach $100 billion, making 2007 the costliest year yet for the conflict.

Bush plans to send 17,500 troops to Baghdad and 4,000 to the volatile Anbar province, the officials said, adding that the Iraqi government has promised to add troops as well.

The increases will take place in waves, with the first additional brigade, usually 3,500 to 4,000 troops, expected to arrive on Jan. 15.

IRAQ | Log In

Originally Posted by MrsCK

ISX declines
Baghdad (NINA) – On its second session for the New Year, the index of Iraqi stock exchange closed on 24,918 point, with a decline at the rate of 1,064 percent lower than Monday’s session. Twenty-four out of ninety registered firms traded their shares on Wednesday Jan. 10.

I THOUGHT WARKA SAID NO TRADING FOR MONDAY AND TRADING WOULD START ON WEDNESDAY?

WHAT IS GOING ON - HELP PLEASE

There was a trading session. The date of the daily bulletin stated 1 january 2007!

Don't know if it was a typo or that they traded on the 1st and not on the 8th.

Maybe testing electronic ISX??